


Cheeky

by surgeoninspace, vampgirltish



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: F/F, Fluff, M/M, RageHappy, micheoff, so much gay, straight up gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-18
Updated: 2015-02-01
Packaged: 2018-03-08 00:36:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3189200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/surgeoninspace/pseuds/surgeoninspace, https://archiveofourown.org/users/vampgirltish/pseuds/vampgirltish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Michael has something to get off his chest. Turns out, Geoff does too. Things turn awkward as they attempt to keep others from noticing just how head-over-heels they are for each other, all while accidentally setting up their two lady friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Texts

**Author's Note:**

> so shoutout to Gwen who previously ran into me on Shamchat as Gavin, and then we ran into each other again where she was Geoff and I was Michael. things started getting gay and we decided to keep making the gay into the distant future. there is so much gay.

Michael Jones: GEOFF

Geoff Ramsey: Hey buddy, what's up?

Michael Jones: Nothing!

Michael Jones: I was talking to Gav but he hung up on me. Rude.

Michael Jones: How about you?

Geoff Ramsey: I was looking for my booze. I sobered up like an hour ago and can't find shit.

Michael Jones: Damn. That sucks.

Michael Jones: I would offer some but I dont even know if I know where mine is.

Geoff Ramsey: Hell yeah. I'm not drunk enough to deal with you assholes.

Geoff Ramsey: And aww thanks Michael.

Michael Jones: So uh... anything interesting happening in the old-man life of Geoff?

Michael Jones: Im kidding about the old-man thing.

Michael Jones: Maybe.

Geoff Ramsey: Yeah, yeah. Whatever. I would fight you but I might break my fragile old man hips.

Michael Jones: Don't wanna break an old man's back.

Michael Jones: Or make your mustache off-kilter.

Geoff Ramsey: Yeah, yeah whatever. You can talk bad about my mustache but I know you're all secretly jealous of it.

Michael Jones: It's true, Geoff.

Michael Jones: I'm jealous of that curly-cue mustache shit.

Michael Jones: I mean, after all, I can't grow much of anything. Baby-faced Jones.

Geoff Ramsey: Aw but your hairless face is adorable.

Michael Jones: Shut up, you fuck.

Michael Jones: Im kidding.

Michael Jones: Probably.

Michael Jones: But yeah. They always called me baby-face Jones.

Michael Jones: Sucked ass.

Geoff Ramsey: Well Michael, I like your face, whether it has hair on it or not.

Michael Jones: Thanks Geoff. Michael Jones: Nice to know my old-man boss appreciates my stupid baby-face.

Geoff Ramsey: Nah, you're face isn't stupid.

Geoff Ramsey: But it is quite squishy.

Michael Jones: Goddamnit Geoff.

Geoff Ramsey: It's my duty as boss to pinch your cheeks, you know, to keep you in check and shit. Plus it's fun.

Michael Jones: I have never seen you pinch anyone's cheeks but mine, Geoff. You dirty fuckin' liar.

Michael Jones: But yeah. I could understand it being fun. They make for quite the joyful experience.

Geoff Ramsey: Well maybe your cheeks are just more fun to pinch than the rest of the losers in this office.

Michael Jones: Tell me more about how fun my cheeks are to pinch, then. Since you get so much joy from it.

Geoff Ramsey: Why tell you when I can just do it.

Michael Jones: Goddamnit Geoff.

Geoff Ramsey: There's nothing you can do to stop me! Well, actually, I'd agree to stop if you found me some booze. But, I've searched just about everywhere and can't find any. So... looks like you're screwed.

Michael Jones: Fuck.

Michael Jones: Geoff please.

Geoff Ramsey: Geoff please what?

Michael Jones: Geoff please don't pinch my cheeks.

Geoff Ramsey: Aw but you're so adorable when you're annoyed.

Michael Jones: Geoff..

Geoff Ramsey: Michael.

Michael Jones: Are you...serious?

Geoff Ramsey: What, that I've given myself all the permission in the world to pinch your sqwubby little face? Yes, I am very serious.

Michael Jones: No, that you said I was cute. I know you'll give yourself all the right in the world to pinch my stupid baby-cheeks.

Geoff Ramsey: Oh. Yeah, you're pretty cute. Which makes all the more fun to pinch said baby cheeks.

Michael Jones: Cute how? Like...awww, that puppy is cute...or cute, like holy shit you're so cute.

Geoff Ramsey: I don't know. Somewhere in the middle. Like you're the aww kind of cute but you're also kinda the ~hey there you~ kind of cute.

Michael Jones: Do you feel this way about the other guys or is it just me?

Michael Jones: I mean, I'm not like--mad or anything. I just..wanna know.

Michael Jones: I'm curious.

Geoff Ramsey: You're probably the only cute. Gavin's got that twinkish vibe to him, Ray's like- attractive but like also kind of has that geeky look? I don't know. Ryan's got that hot serial killer vibe goin and Jack is just- manly. So, yeah, I'd say you're probably the most attractive in this office.

Geoff Ramsey: Not sure if that answers your question, but hey, you get what ya get.

Michael Jones: So, like...we're all attractive, but I'm the only cute one?

Michael Jones: Okay..

Michael Jones: Uh...how long have you felt like that?

Geoff Ramsey: How long have I felt like what?

Michael Jones: That I was cute.

Michael Jones: I just--just wanna know.

Geoff Ramsey: Appearance wise? Probably since I first saw you. I'm not ashamed to say I think a dude is cute, regardless if I know 'em

Michael Jones: Ah.

Michael Jones: Is it one of those innocent things or is it like..something else?

Michael Jones: God, this sounds weird to ask. I'm sorry.

Geoff Ramsey: Nah, you're good. What do you mean?

Michael Jones: I mean like.. is it one of those like "Wow that guy's cute" or "HOLY FUCK THAT GUY IS CUTE. I WOULD DATE THE FUCK OUT OF HIM" things?

Geoff Ramsey: Michael, I don't know if you've noticed or not, but I'm not exactly the kind of guy who has his feelings sorted out.

Geoff Ramsey: I just kinda go with it.

Michael Jones: It's okay. I mean... it's...okay.

Michael Jones: I don't care how you feel about me or anything, like...I'm not mad.

Michael Jones: I just..don't know how to...feel? If that makes sense?

Geoff Ramsey: What do you mean, buddy?

Michael Jones: Geoff, I'm..sorry if I said something I shouldn't have.

Geoff Ramsey: Hey, Michael, it's okay. This is what I'm here for.

Michael Jones: I...it's hard to explain. I mean, I don't know how to feel about you thinking I'm cute because I...I don't know. Maybe I..think..you're...cute too?

Geoff Ramsey: I have been told that the mustache really adds to that affect.

Michael Jones: Goddamnit, Geoff.

Michael Jones: Now isn't the time for jokes.

Michael Jones: I just..said something serious, dude.

Geoff Ramsey: Alright, alright, I'm sorry!

Geoff Ramsey: I know, I know. How long have you felt that way about me?

Michael Jones: I..since my interview. For work.

Michael Jones: It...I saw you and my brain just said "Oh fuck."

Geoff Ramsey: That sounds like you.

Michael Jones: Yeah...

Michael Jones: I..fuck. I don't know.

Geoff Ramsey: Hey, it's okay. It's alright.

Geoff Ramsey: Are you saying you just think I'm cute or do you...

Geoff Ramsey: Y'know

Michael Jones: Do I what?

Michael Jones: You need to..elaborate. I don't want to say more than what's meant.

Geoff Ramsey: Do you just like my face or the drunken idiot who controls it?

Michael Jones: Both?

Geoff Ramsey: Oh man this was worse than we thought.

Michael Jones: I'm sorry.

Geoff Ramsey: Nah buddy, it's not your fault. Any one can fall under the spell of the ole' Geoff Ramsey charm.

Michael Jones: Geoff, I don't know how to not sound...weird? For saying that? I mean...it's probably...weird to think your boss is cute. Right?

Geoff Ramsey: It's not weird. It's never weird to have an attraction to someone, it's normal. Regardless of who they are. Plus, I don't think I really count as a normal boss anyway. If you haven't forgot, we play video games for a living, dude.

Michael Jones: Well yeah, but..I still get like my paychecks from you and you keep us all in line and shit. Like a boss does.

Michael Jones: You're still my boss. That makes it weird. Doesn't it?

Geoff Ramsey: I don't think it's weird.

Geoff Ramsey: And even if it was weird, so what? This whole thing... is weird. What we do, I mean.

Michael Jones: You're weird too, old man.

Michael Jones: I'm joking.

Michael Jones: No I'm not.

Geoff Ramsey: We're all a little weird. Except for Ryan. That dude is a WHOLE lotta weird.

Michael Jones: Yeah.

Geoff Ramsey: Hey Michael.

Michael Jones: Yeah?

Geoff Ramsey: Would you like to go on a date with me?

Michael Jones: ....Yeah. I would.


	2. I'm the King of Awkward, Aren't I?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Geoff, Michael, Lindsay, and Griffon go out to get some lunch together. Shenanigans ensue.

Michael heard the buzz of his alarm, sighed, groaned, and rolled out of bed. He was starting to begin hating the day until he remembered last night 'Hey Michael. Do you want to go on a date with me?' He smiled at that, and began to get dressed and ready for the day, hurrying more than he did before and hoping work went by quickly. Michael walked the short distance to work and entered the building, waving to people as he went and grinning a 400-watt smile. As he plopped into his chair and began unpacking his backpack, he took inventory of who was there based on voices. He heard Ryan, Gavin, Ray...Geoff. His heart skipped a beat at that. Michael looked around, hoping to make eye contact with him.

Geoff had showed up to work a bit late that same morning as he had stopped at the liquor store and picked up a couple bottles to replenish his supply. Even then, he was still the fourth to show up at the office. With his usually greeting of "Good morning, assholes." He sat down at his desk, beginning to make a list of things the group needed to get done that day while he simultaneously argued with Gavin that no, if the world lost all of it's electricity, you wouldn't be able to generate a whole planet's worth of electricity using potatoes.

A few minutes afterwards, he had heard the door open and glanced over to see that Michael had made himself present. Geoff caught his co-worker scanning the room before they made eye contact. The elder gave him a knowing look along with a smug grin before returning his focus to the list. But not before he could give him a light-hearted, "Good morning, Michael." Michael grinned even wider, his smile growing in brightness at his boss's knowing smile. That smile held so much, even though it was just some text messages last night. 

"Good morning, Geoff," Michael said, even if Geoff wasn't listening. Gavin was looking at Michael with a peculiar look, but he shook it off and went back to sorting games.

"What's on the agenda today?" Ray asked as he got himself completely settled.

"Uh," Geoff started, clearing his throat before he continued, "We have to film a VS., a minecraft let's play (your favorite), Jack needs to record the audio commentary for HUNT, and... we have to film a things to do for GTA V," He stroked his mustache, double checking the list in front of him,"yeah, I think that's it."

Ray groaned, it didn't have real annoyance behind it, it was just his way of dealing with the illusion of having to do work. Gavin swiveled in his chair, looking at his boss with a cheerful expression, "Who's competing against who in VS?" 

Geoff leaned back in his chair, thinking for a minute. "Well, Michael won last time... so it's him against..." he trailed off, then turning to Michael, knowing he would be able to answer his question, "who are you competing against today?"

"It's--uh," Michael thought for a minute. "I'm competing against you today, I think." Michael smirked, a snort coming from his body as he started laughing, for reasons only he and Geoff knew. Gavin laughed along just because Michael was, and soon everyone was laughing for a reason no one knew. "You're going down, old man!" Michael teased.

Geoff puffed out a breath of air followed by a light laugh, "In your dreams, kid. You won't be laughing when this old man kicks your ass."

Ray yelled over the laughing, "Shots fired!"

Michael laughed again, "In your dreams, pops."

After the laughing died down, Geoff shot another question at Michael, "Do you already have a game picked out? The sooner we can get this ready the sooner I can destroy you."

"Yeah, I've got a game. And I'm gonna kick your fuckin' ass in it." Michael was teasing Geoff because he could, and because he knew it would piss Geoff off--not to the point of being mad, but just that laughing sort of angry. "When are we planning to do this? I gotta get it set up first, but it won't take long I don't think."

Geoff grinned at his remark putting out a quick, "Whatever you say, Jones," before answering his question, "we should probably do it right now. You should have enough time to set up, we have to wait for Jack, plus we have to round up the B team so they can film."

"Alright," Michael said, holding out the ending syllable in a drawl. "How about you go fetch the B Team while I set up?" Michael searched through his desktop for the file, and found it. He double clicked, opening it and waiting for the game to load. When it was fully loaded, he clicks the power button on his monitor, turning it to black just as Geoff returns with the B Team. "Long time, no see," Michael blurts to Geoff.

The tattooed man raised an eyebrow at this, before realizing that Michael was actually sort of anxious. His questioning expression sunk into an amused one, a teasing smile tugging at his lips. "What's the matter Michael? Nervous you're going to lose?" Geoff asked, knowing damn well that's not why the kid was nervous. Michael would see through the tease, while everyone else in the room preoccupied by setting up the equipment would just brush it off as playful taunting.

Michael forced a lie past his lips, "Nervous for you? Pfft, nice try, gramps." With a pause for thought, and allowing Geoff and a few of the other guys to chuckle, he spoke again, "So are we ready to film this bitch?"

The room was soon filled with nods and words of agreement. "Looks like we're good to go." The camera's started rolling, Geoff's cue to pull the microphone in front of him and shout, "Versus!" his voice cracking as he did so.

Michael snorted at the voice crack of the older man. Geoff went on introducing what was happening, everyone excited and interested in what was going to happen. The B Team was doing a marvelous job of filming, just as they normally do. Michael realized it was his turn to talk about what game they were about to play, "So, for this versus, I wanted to go in a different route, and I happened to remember the classics. Everyone remembers those DOS games. I decided to put us to the challenge of seeing who can successfully complete a surgery on the DOS game Life & Death." He jabbed the power button and the screen showed the pixelated shitty menu for the game.

Geoff made a face, shrugging at the screen. "So how are we gonna do this? You go then I go?"

Michael hadn't thought of this, and panicked for a second. "Y-yeah. We'll do it that way. You wanna go first or should I?"

"You go first." Geoff hadn't played the game before, he assumed he could just watch Michael and pick up on how to play through his actions.

Michael shrugged, "Alright. Fine by me." He sat at his desk, clicking a bit to get the little bit of set-up necessary ready while everyone else talked aimlessly. The game opened, and Michael first fumbled, clicking around, trying to find how to get to the first level. "Fuck, this game is hard and I haven't even started playing it." Everyone chuckled, and Michael continued, finally opening the clipboard showing the mission. He went to the operating room, and discovered he was doing a stomach surgery. "Goddamn." His first direction was to wash his hands. Michael fumbled, looking for a way to wash his hands.

Someone--who was it? He placed it as Ryan--was yelling, "Click the fucking soap, Michael!"

"Thanks, Rye-bread," Michael said absently, managing to wash his hands and then looking for something to continue the surgery under the directions. In the end, it took Michael thirteen minutes to complete the surgery, after the struggles of finding the soap and navigating the menu screen. "Your turn, old man. Try and beat that."

"Pshh," Geoff snickered, sitting down on the chair Michael had stood up from, "you want me to play doctor? I'll fuckin do it." He wrapped his tattooed hands around the mouse as he tried to figure out the controls. 

"What the fuck- this is impossible!" The longer it stretched on, the more agitated with the game he got. "This is bullshit."

He was halfway through the surgery when his time surpassed Michael's, and Geoff was just glad he was done with the damn game. "MICHAEL KEEPS THE BELT FOR ANOTHER WEEK!" Gavin had squawked as Ray cheered along. Geoff had crossed his arms over his chest and continued to fake pout at the infuriating game, mumbling something about how Michael was a dirty cheater.

"Thaaaat's what I thought, Geoffrey," Michael teased. Geoff gave him a glare, which made him laugh. The two were being playful to each other, and knew exactly why they were. The office saw it as teasing, but Michael and Geoff saw it as something else. They both knew what.

"There's a reason I play video games for a living and don't have a goddamn doctor's degree!" He laughed through his false anger, smiling at Michael.

Michael rolled his eyes, "You act like I have a doctor's degree, Geoff. I don't even have a fucking college degree, unlike Ryan the College Guy!"

Ryan groaned, "One of them is in theater, does that even count?"

Both Michael and Geoff said "Yes!" at the same time, before looking at each other and laughing again. There was a certain wistfulness in Geoff's eyes that Michael caught.

Geoff caught himself for staring any longer than necessary and cleared his throat. He shifted his gaze towards the camera Kdin was holding and began to wrap up the video. "Anyway! Tune in for next week’s VS when Michael goes up against Ray! That should be fun." Ray scrunched his face up and already began to trash talk Michael. Geoff quickly ended the dispute with a final, "Leeeeeet's stop."

As the day rolled by, the crew steadily began crossing things off of Geoff's things to do. First a thing's to do, a Minecraft let's play, and before they knew it, lunchtime rolled around. The first one to get up and go was Ryan, "I'm going to go grab some lunch from Wich Wich, anyone want me to bring them back anything?" 

The question was followed by declining mutters, except for Gavin. "I won't make you bring me back anything, but I'll tag along!" 

Ryan considered his options before shrugging his shoulders with a "Sure," knowing that he'd probably regret the decision later. Jack departed not long after that, followed by Ray who claimed that he and a few others were going out for some grub with some of the B team. 

Michael was starting to get frustrated with trying to get his capture to work properly again, as he was having trouble with it earlier. He ran a hand through his hair and was about to swivel his chair to face Ryan, the ultimate technical nerd, to see for help but soon noticed that he was so caught up in trying to get the dumb thing to work that the majority of the office had left to get some lunch. He scanned the office and found himself realizing that the only person left was Geoff. He became aware that this was the first time they were alone since Geoff had even asked him to go on a date. The younger of the two suddenly felt nervous again, his hands growing sweaty as he stared at the face of his boss, who was taking turns looking at his phone and poking the keys of the computer keyboard. He had to say SOMETHING. "Hey, G-Geoff." Michael stuttered, trying to look casual by slouching back in his chair, slowly swiveling back and forth in his chair. 

Geoff finished up typing a sentence before focusing his attention on his co-worker, "What's up, Buddy?"

"I'm having trouble-" Michael scratched the back of his neck, "with the capture- can you help?" Geoff cleared his throat, nodding, "Yeah, sure," He pushed up from his chair, walking over to Michael with his hands shoved in his sweatshirt pocket. He leaned down on the back of Michael's chair, looking over his shoulder to see the screen in front of him, "What seems to be the issue?"

Michael sighed a breath through his nose, "It like, froze a second ago. So I closed it and rebooted it and it came back up, but now it won’t work--like the buttons don't work and the task manager won't let me close it so it's just like, stuck. Always open, or something. I can open other stuff so my computer's not frozen, capture just won’t go away." Michael felt Geoff's breath against his neck and a shiver ran down his back.

"Hm..." Geoff hummed, leaning closer to the screen so that his chest was almost pushing up against Michael's back. He believed Michael, but still reached out to grab the mouse to click the buttons and try and close out of them himself, brushing up against the younger's fingers. Michael's claims proved to be true. "Did you try just unplugging the whole thing?"

Another shiver tickled Michael's spine when Geoff got closer, and his heartbeat thrummed in his ears when he felt Geoff's hand on his over the mouse. "I-I didn't because I was hoping I wouldn't have to do that."

Geoff bit his lip, glancing down at Michael's face. He had suddenly realized how close they were, merely inches away. He took in this opportunity to scan Michael's features, "The only other thing I'd think to do is go into the computer's control panel to uninstall and then re-download it."

"Fuuuuck," Michael dragged out the word in his distress. "I really don't feel like doing shit. I think I'm gonna go to lunch and just ask Ryan to figure it out when we all get back. Sound good?" Michael felt Geoff staring, and a blush went to his ears, though he tried to pretend it wasn't there. He liked thinking that Geoff was looking at him, really looking at him.

And Geoff was. His boss's gaze flickered from Michael's dark brown eyes to his faint freckles and all the way down to his pale lips. It took him just a second too long to respond, nodding as he did so, "Yeah, no, that sounds good to me."

"Okay. I was gonna have lunch with Lindsay, but you're welcome to come too. We hadn't had a place in mind, so we wouldn't mind more input," Michael said, as he grabbed his keys, phone, and wallet, choosing to leave the majority of his stuff at the office.

“I was gonna go to lunch with Griffon, we could all go together." Michael nodded, and Geoff continued, "Who's Lindsay again? I know of her, but not who she is."

"She's the redhead who's an intern. We became friends when I accidentally spilled coffee on her. Kinda awkward, but, hey, I'm the king of awkward, aren't I?" Michael joked.

Geoff laughed inwardly, going back to his desk and grabbing all of the stuff he deemed important for lunch, "Tell me about it." There was a short pause, "I have to pick Griffon up, do you and Lindsay just want to ride with me?"

"Uh, yeah, actually. That would be great. Thanks, Geoff," Michael replied, then said, "I'll have to go fetch her. Meet you downstairs?" Once he saw Geoff's nod of affirmation, he headed out to find Lindsay, finding her in her office editing. He tapped her shoulder and said, "Hey! So, I invited Geoff in on our lunch plans, and he said he was going to bring his friend Griffon. She's nice, if I remember right."

Lindsay smiled, "Great, Michael! I'm nearly done now, so just wait like, one sec, then we can go downstairs."

"Yeah. Geoff said he was going to drive too, so that makes it easier on us."

"Yeah!" Lindsay said, a smile on her face as she turned off her computer and grabbed her purse.

"You ready?" Lindsay nodded.

"Alright. Let's go." Once downstairs, Michael and Lindsay were greeted with Geoff staring into space in the main foyer. Michael cleared his throat, "You ready to go, Geoff, or do you want to stare at the ceiling some more?" Lindsay giggled.

"Huh? Oh- shut up." Geoff responded. Lindsay's light laugh directed his attention towards her, "So, this is the infamous Lindsay?" He extended a hand, "I'm Geoff, although I'm sure Michael has gushed about me to you. Probably talking about how dreamy I am." He spoke jokingly, glancing over at Michael with a teasing grin.

Michael's ears once again tinged pink, but he forced the thought of Geoff's words away as Lindsay spoke, "Uh-huh. Thank you for taking us to lunch, by the way. I'm looking forward to meeting your friend, Griffon." It was obvious Lindsay hadn't really been around Geoff much, considering she was being polite as ever, and didn't laugh at Geoff's joke.

Michael nodded, taking over the conversation, "Yeah, we appreciate it. Let's go." The two followed Geoff outside, Lindsay and Michael talking between each other, Geoff throwing in occasional comments.

They all piled into the car, before strapping themselves in as Geoff started the engine. The three rambled on about new release dates for video games and such. Geoff grew to like the company of Lindsay, quickly finding she had an awesome sense of humor.

A couple minutes later, they pulled into Griffon's driveway and Geoff immediately honked the horn. Griffon was quick on the draw and excited the small yet cozy looking home before Geoff could get any more erratic with the horn. She rushed up to the car and hopped in the back, promptly greeting everyone. "Griffon, that's Lindsay, a currently part-time intern at our office, Lindsay, that's Griffon, a full-time huge nerd." Geoff teased Griffon as he glanced at her through the rear-view mirror.

Griffon rolled her eyes, "Asshole."

Michael laughed and greeted the blonde, "Hey Griffon, long time, no see."

"Hey Michael! It has been awhile. I missed ya." Michael just smiled in response. The four found themselves in a casual conversation, enjoying the atmosphere of just being comfortable with each other, and Lindsay pointing out dogs and their owners in the passersby, as they drove. Griffon broke their casual stupor with a question, "Where are we eating today?"

"I was thinking pizza. Any objections? Speak now or forever hold your piece." Geoff spoke, relaxing his hands on the steering wheel as they approached a stop light.  
The car was silent for a moment or two, showing the lack of objection.

Lindsay cheered, "Pizza!"

Michael laughed, "We going to Home Slice then?" Griffon gave a 'yay' from the back seat at that, and Michael watched Geoff nod. Michael grinned wider, "Hell fucking yes. Home Slice!"

"Home slice it is." Geoff muttered, mapping out the directions in his head. As the car was still stopped, and Griffon and Lindsay were engulfed in a conversation about the blonde's tattoos, Geoff glanced over at Michael and the little grin he was holding on his face. Michael looked over at Geoff, their eyes catching. He wondered what was going through the older man's head, but didn't worry too much about it. He just smiled at him, letting Geoff take in that face before looking down at his lap again, feeling that flush tickle against his ears as his heart thrummed again. God, he was head over heels for this guy, wasn't he? As he watched Michael look down with a bashful smile, Geoff couldn't help but grin at how adorable he looked. He was just about to reach over and clasp Michael's hand in his own when 1) he remembered the two ladies in the back and 2) the light turned green once again and his focus was brought ahead to the road in front of him.

Michael saw Geoff's hand move, and he knew. He knew then that Geoff wasn't just humoring him with the date they were going on later--the date. Michael just remembered it. His face brightened as he remembered, but he was distracted by his phone buzzing. On the screen was a text from Lindsay in the back seat. Clearly, it was some sort of secret. He read it to himself, ‘Having fun up there? I think you'd like our conversation back here. You could tell Griffon about your tattoos.’

Michael turned around in the passenger seat, and listened for a bit until Griffon asked about his tattoos on his arm. He explained them carefully, thinking back to when he got them. Then he rolled up his sleeve as Lindsay said, "Oooh, this one's my favorite." Michael then explained his tri-force tattoo, and Griffon was smiling so wide. Michael was happy knowing he was being interesting.

Griffon grinned, "I love the Zelda games. They're seriously so great." The three then got into a conversation about Zelda.

Geoff had to make himself pay attention to the road ahead. But it proved to be difficult when Michael revealed his somewhat toned arms. He snuck an occasional side glance at the way his fingers pointed to each marking on his arm, listening intently as Michael spoke passionately. He almost regretted choosing to be the one responsible for driving, the way it was now he couldn't watch the excitement in Michael's eyes. His mind still lingered on the idea of Michael's arms, more specifically, he wondered how strong they were. As he blotted out the ramblings of the Nintendo game he refused to play, his thoughts continued to dwell on Michael.  
The four finally arrived at the restaurant, and the girls got out first. Lindsay smiled at Griffon before holding open the door for her. Griffon smiled back and thanked her. 

Michael followed after the two, holding the door open for Geoff after having it closed on him by Lindsay with a call of, "Looooser!" He hated her sometimes, but she was probably one of his closest friends. He held the door as Geoff went in, offering a smirk and catching his eyes.  
With his hands shoved in his pockets, Geoff entered the building, slipping a casual, "Thank you," at Michael before shooting him a wink. The smell of delicious pizza wafted in the air as they stepped in.

Michael shook his head, trying to shake the blush that just would not escape his face. He looked around, walking up to join the other three and hearing them discuss toppings. "Whatever kind you guys get is fine by me," Michael assured them, standing next to Geoff, behind the two ladies.  
"I'll eat whatever. I didn't eat breakfast this morning and I am staaarving." Geoff added, rubbing his stomach for emphasis. 

Griffon tucked a few stray pieces of hair behind her ear, "Personally, I am a big fan of pepperoni." 

Lindsay nodded, "We should put bacon on it too." The four, who had finally sat down at a booth, nodded in agreement. Once the consensus was reached, the waiter wandered over and took their order before they all went back into conversation.

The talk was aimless and mindless chatter, throwaway questions and meaningless responses. Michael found himself enjoying the fact that he was sitting across from Geoff, because it gave him an excuse to look at him for extended periods of time without looking weird. Lindsay and Griffon had been talking constantly since they met, which was good. They were getting along. That relieved Michael of one of his fears. His other fear--the fear of being too obvious about how head-over-heels he was for Geoff--was much harder to conceal. Michael just hoped he was doing okay.

Geoff was having fun with the conversation, throwing in his thoughts here and there. Multiple times throughout the conversation had he caught Michael's stares, each time he'd give him a wide grin and occasionally, when he knew he wouldn't get caught, he'd toss in a subtle gesture of affection. A wink or a gentle nudge with his foot.

The pizza arrived, and everyone enthusiastically reached for some. "Oh fuck that's hot!" Griffon said, dropping a piece on her plate. Everyone slowed their reaching, waiting for the pizza to cool a bit as they returned to their conversations. 

Michael had now resorted to playing footsie with Geoff under the table and hoping the other two ladies didn't notice. Of course, Michael was sure they wouldn't, considering Griffon's blue eyes hadn't left Lindsay's green ones the entire time, save for when she went to get the pizza that eventually came to burn her fingers.

As Geoff and Michael's foot war increased in intensity, the elder began to teasingly smile at Michael, biting his lower lip to keep from letting out a giggle. Geoff's eyes narrowed at the man across from him, silently telling him to give up because he was never going to win.

Michael's eyes filled with a mirthful glint as he continued sticking his feet against Geoff's. Michael smirked, accepting the elder's silent plea to give up as a challenge. He bent his hips a little to get a better angle, and went back to it. The two ladies continued chatting next to them, so caught up in each other that they didn't even noticed that the two men were nearly falling out of their seats in an attempt to win this full-on footsie battle. Geoff had managed to capture Michael's right foot with his own, quickly applying pressure so he couldn't wiggle free. His eyebrow quirked upwards suggestively, as if asking, 'What are you going to do about it?'

Michael's mouth fell into a straight line, and he forced himself not to groan. He pulled at his right foot as hard as he could before getting an idea. With careful wind-up, he whacked his left directly into Geoff's shin, causing the older to yelp and bring his foot off Michael's right one. Michael pushed his feet on top of both of Geoff's while he was distracted. Michael sent Geoff a look that said, 'How about now?'

Geoff quickly covered up his sudden cry with a coughing fit, not realizing at first that Michael had clamped down on both of his feet. Biting his lip, Geoff began attempting to squirm out from under him, but to no avail.

Michael broke the silence between them, "You give up, pops?" Griffon turned at this, and Lindsay turned because Griffon did, breaking their eye contact, both of them looking confused at what was happening, but also pissed they'd been interrupted. In the back of his mind, Michael thought, 'Maybe they're getting along a little too well.'

"Over my dead body, Jones." Geoff retorted, neither bothering to explain themselves to the intrigued duo next to them.

Lindsay, giving the boys the benefit of the doubt, just said, "Eat your pizza, you two, or it's going to get cold."

Michael rolled his eyes, "Yes, mom." Lindsay laughed, and Griffon immediately brought their discussion back up, so they locked eyes once more and were trapped in their own little bubble again.

Michael grabbed a piece of pizza, his feet still forced hard against Geoff's, pinning them down. Geoff mimicked his actions, grabbing a slice without breaking eye contact with Michael. He bit his tongue when more pressure was applied to his feet, still insisting on trying to wiggle free.

'You aren't gonna get out of this one,' Michael's eyes screamed at Geoff as he took a bite of his pizza, feet still firm as they were before.

Even if he knew losing was inevitable, Geoff continued striving for freedom. He tore off a bite from his pizza, smirking at Michael as soon as he closed his lips around the slice. Michael laughed, and now he was the one challenging Geoff to give up. A few more bites of pizza and what seemed like a lifetime being caught in those blue eyes, Michael was beginning to lose his strength, simply because his hunger was outweighing his desire to hold down Geoff's feet. Michael began to hope Geoff would give up, and continued to challenge him to do so.

Of course, Geoff's stubbornness pushed him to keep going. Or rather, pulled. With a few sharp tugs he managed to get his right foot free and actually exclaimed, "HA!" at his success. Griffon looked over at him, only to roll her eyes and immediately put her focus back on Lindsay. He shifted his now free food quickly and used it to clamp down on Michael's foot. The game they were playing was all tied up now, and Geoff continued to send him triumphant glares across the table.

Michael groaned, trying to figure out how to get out of the situation. He was enjoying teasing Geoff and playing footsie, but he also really just wanted to enjoy his pizza. So, he said, "Truce? I'm fucking hungry."

Geoff thought for a second before letting his grip loose on the foot he had previously held captive. "Truce," he uttered, reaching for his glass of water and taking a sip.

"Ahh," Michael sighed out absently, before shoving nearly half the slice of pizza into his mouth. With a thoughtful chew and swallow, Michael spoke again, his voice hushed so the girls wouldn't hear him. "Seems the two ladies are getting along, aren't they?"

Geoff raised his pizza up to take another bite, glancing between Lindsay and Griffon, the two too engulfed in their conversation to notice. He watched the way Griffon stared at Lindsay. It was actually kind of cute. Geoff turned back to Michael with an immature grin on his face and held up his two hands, spreading his index fingers from his middle. He began to jam the two together in order to make the not-so-universal sign for scissoring, silently hoping neither of the ladies noticed.

Michael snorted into his pizza, also hoping the ladies didn't turn. Geoff managed to put his hands down before they did, and Michael just shrugged, swallowing his bite and saying, "Geoff made a dumb face." Geoff nodded, and the ladies both shrugged, Griffon rolling her eyes as they went back to talking.

Then Michael nodded aggressively, in agreement with Geoff's obscene hand gesture. He then made a gross-looking kissy face and gestured to the two ladies with a jab of his thumb.  
Geoff giggled back at him, glancing at them to make sure they weren't paying attention to either of their shenanigans. When the coast was clear, Geoff decided to see how far her could take this by putting his arms at his sides, slowly thrusting them back and forth before nodding in Griffon and Lindsay's direction.

Michael bit the inside of his cheek, trying not to audibly laugh. He then set his pizza down and put his fingers into a V. He placed this V in front of his mouth and did a rather lewd motion with his tongue between the fingers of the V, quickly pulling his hand down when he was sure Geoff had seen it. Geoff put his hand in front of his mouth to stop the laughter from escaping. 

Once he gained control of himself, he reached his hands up to his upper body, cupping his hands as to grab onto imaginary breasts while simultaneously making an 'O' face. Michael couldn't suppress the snort that escaped him at that. The ladies still did not turn, clearly involved with each other more than the pizza on the plates or the two boys being extremely risqué right next to them. Michael couldn't think of anything to do but try to force down his chuckling as Geoff joined him in laughter.

It was amazing how two grown men could be so entertained by such immature actions. As Geoff's laughter died down, his gaze continued to linger on Michael, captivated by his glowing smile and amused features. He couldn't help but break another smile at the sight of Michael's bright eyes. 

Michael saw Geoff looking at him with those half-lidded eyes. They weren't drunk eyes, like he'd seen on his boss so many times before. Geoff was absolutely drunk on the look on Michael's face, and Michael felt a shiver down his spine thinking that Geoff felt the way he did about him. It still shocked him, as it had about ten times today already. Michael's mouth quirked into a half smile as he opened his mouth to eat some more food, not knowing what to do with his hands now that the obnoxiously obscene gestures were done and over with.

For the first time that night, Geoff felt his face grow warm. And there was a feeling in the pit of his stomach, not an upsetting one, but a feeling that could be described as fuzzy. When he finally realized he had been staring for a while too long, he cleared his throat, trying to bring himself back to reality. He brought his gaze back down to the piece of pizza, tearing off a piece of the crust and moving it to his mouth.

The two ladies tore themselves from each other long enough for Lindsay to say, "Hey, we should probably head back now. Lunch break is almost over." Michael nodded, sliding out of the booth to allow his friend to go ahead and watching as Geoff did the same. Griffon and Lindsay walked side by side, and Michael agreed with himself that they definitely had gotten close over the past hour or so.

As they two guys walked behind them, Geoff leaned over to Michael and whispered, "They're totally gonna bang."

Michael snorted. "They absolutely are. Maybe they're gonna hook up after work," he said, before leaning closer to Geoff and whispering (even quieter), "like we are."

Geoff quirked a suggestive brow at Michael, actually a bit taken aback, he quickly covered it up, though. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah," he replied, definitively. As they drove home, the conversation was light, except for the girls still talking in the back seat. Michael wondered how two people could talk so much, but apparently they had a lot to talk about. Michael just took the quiet as a chance to look at Geoff some more while pretending to look out the windshield.

As Griffon got out, Geoff and Michael said their casual goodbyes. Lindsay, however, was a different story. She smiled wide at the other woman, "Text me, okay, Griff?"

Griffon smiled back, "I will! Talk to you later, Linds." In the span of a short while, Griffon and Lindsay had gone from complete strangers to nickname-basis, 'text-me-when-you-want-to' friendship. Michael rolled his eyes, wondering how that was even possible as Geoff drove away from Griffon's house.

Lindsay sighed a little, a happy, pleased sigh, "I like Griffon. We have a lot in common."

"I could tell! You two were practically eye fucking each other the whole time." Geoff muttered from the front. 

Lindsay rolled her eyes, "Yeah right." 

"No, seriously, when's your two's next date?"

Lindsay sighed out, "Shut up, Geoff. We're just friends."

Michael couldn't stop himself from whispering just loud enough for Geoff to hear, "Just like we are." Geoff pursed his lips at that just before curving them up into a slight smile.

Lindsay didn't say anything after that, looking out the window as they drove, and Michael just watched the cars driving by in the windshield. When they stopped back at work, Lindsay politely said, "I'm sorry I snapped at you earlier. Thank you for the ride, Geoff." Then, she turned, got out of the car, closed the door behind her, and went back inside the office. When Geoff looked confused, Michael just shrugged.

“What was she on about?" Geoff asked, not really expecting an answer from Michael as they began to make their way back into the building.

Michael, though he knew Geoff wasn't really looking for an answer, said, "I think she doesn't know you that well yet, so she didn't know how to act. She was like that when we first met--all apologetic, always please and thank you, stuff like that. She was raised like that." Geoff hummed a sound of affirmation, and Michael continued. "Lindsay means well, really, she just...is a bit bad at first meetings. She'll get more used to you and soon enough she'll drop the please-and-thank you for 'I-hate-you's and 'you motherfucker's."

“I don’t know. I thought she was pretty cool. She seemed like she could hold a good conversation, plus she was pretty funny.” Geoff put out before shrugging it off. Michael let the conversation drop as they entered their office, seeing who was there and taking attendance. He saw Gavin and Ryan, and Jack. Ray appeared to still be missing for whatever reason.


	3. You're Totally Hot For That Mustache

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael starts to get antsy, Lindsay helps him out.

Michael asked Ryan for help with his capture, and Ryan happily obliged, doing his best to figure it out. Eventually Ryan ended up turning off his entire system and turning it back on, and it was fine. “Here you go, Michael,” Ryan told him.

“Thanks, Ryan,” he responded. Michael then turned to Geoff, “Turns out you were right to turn the whole thing off. Kinda wish I’d done that. Then again, if I had, the entire computer might have spontaneously combusted.”

“Probably.” Geoff smiled, leaning closer to Michael, “To be honest, I just think that Ryan is secretly a wizard, and that’s why he’ good at all this computer stuff.”

Michael just smirked, shaking his head and chuckling. Ryan turns, “What did you say? You both talkin’ shit about me?”

Michael was quick to counter, “Absolutely not, Rye-bread! Not me. It was all Geoff.”  
“What?!” Geoff exclaimed, “You dirty traitor! How could you just throw me under the bus like that? And to think, I thought what we had was special.” He jokingly spoke, making himself sound as if he was actually hurt.

Michael was still laughing, the other guys joining him. “I’m only speaking the truth.”

Ryan jabbed a finger at Michael, “See, that’s why I always knew Michael was a good kid. That’s why he’s on my good list.”

“What?!” Geoff yelled out again, “He’s not a good kid! Look at his face,” Geoff grabbed the sides of Michael’s jaw, shaking slightly for emphasis. “This is the face of pure evil!”

Ray walked in just at that moment, seeing Geoff with his hands gripping at Michael’s cheeks, and Ryan pointing at the two of them. Gavin and Jack were both laughing by each other. “Uh, I seem to have…walked in on quite the spectacle. Am I interrupting something?” he teased as he continued through the scene, sitting at his desk and booting up his computer.

“Ol’ baby-faced Jones is the OPPOSITE of evil!” Michael said, and laughed. He remembered his and Geoff’s conversation last night about his cheeks, and his face brightened. He played it off as more laughter.

“Are you kidding?! You’ve got wicked written all over you AND your baby cheeks.” Everyone continued laughing, grins on their faces as they got settled back into the office and began working on respective things they needed to do. Michael aimlessly browsed the internet for awhile, not really having much to do.

The day moved on without much event. They filmed videos and did some editing. All the while, Geoff and Michael flirted with each other. Everyone else brushed it off without much thought; it wasn’t different than any other day the guys were joking or teasing. But both Michael and Geoff knew. They knew that it was real, and they kept it to themselves. Michael cherished it like it were their own little secret. The end of the day approached and as it did, the two started to get giddy. Geoff was able to keep it to himself, play it off like he’d drank too much of the new bottle of whiskey he’d bought that morning. On the other hand, the younger had trouble hiding his excitement.

Michael found himself antsy, getting up and sitting back down for no reason, pacing, just—not being able to sit still. Michael also found himself unable to shut up. He kept singing to songs that popped in his head, coming up with lyrics on the spot to background music of games he played (when he wasn’t pacing everywhere), and talking to everyone for no apparent reason. Eventually it got to the point where he literally could not sit in the same room as Geoff without his stomach going into knots. So, he got up and went to Lindsay’s office to talk and chill for a bit, to get his mind off the anticipation and excitement of what was going to happen the moment work was over for him.

Lindsay looked up from the paperwork she’d been filling out at the sound of the door opening, smiling wide when she realized it was Michael. “Hey Michael!” she greeted happily. “What’s up?”

“I cannot fucking sit still,” he told her plainly. There was no point in beating around the bush, considering that Lindsay was one of his best friends and would figure it out eventually. "It's awful. I keep getting up and sitting down and being--just…absolutely annoying. Like, I'm pretty sure I was even pissing off Jack and you know how chill Jack is. That's how bad I was."

Lindsay put down the pen she was holding, realizing this wasn't going to be just a quick conversation. "Did you mix coffee with Red Bull again? Because I thought I told you not to do that anymore if you wanted to avoid dying."

Michael groaned, rolling his eyes, and sitting in one of the chairs in her office that was unoccupied at the moment. "No, I didn't," he said, then realized he was going to have to lie if he didn't want his best friend realizing he was going on a date with his boss. "I don't know why I'm so fidgety, Linds." He got back up a few moments later, showing signs of the restlessness he had been talking about. "I just literally cannot stop moving. I keep looking at the clock and shit, I don't know why."

Lindsay pressed a finger to her lips as she studied Michael. The way he kept running his fingers through his hair and watching how his leg bounced rapidly, shaking his whole body. "Is there... something bothering you? Or did you just put too much sugar in your cornflakes this morning?"

Michael once again lied to his best friend. "No-nothing's bothering me! I just said, I don't know why I'm so antsy." He sat back down, wiping his face with his hands under his glasses. "God, I literally cannot stop talking or moving." Michael gestured vaguely to his aggressively moving leg for dramatic effect, a look on his face that said 'See?' even though he knew his friend very well could see the fact.

She squinted at him at his frantic answer, sensing that there may be something up. She kept quiet about it. "You wanna go take a break with me? We could take a walk or something." Lindsay offered, thinking it might help to get him moving.

Michael answered, and he answered too quickly. He knew he did. "Yeah! That would be great!" He followed her out of her office, hoping that she wouldn't ask, even though he knew that she would. Lindsay always asked.

Lindsay slowed down so that she would be walking side by side with Michael, glancing over at him every so often. Once they were out of earshot from anyone else, she began, "So... are you sure there's not anything up? You can trust me, you know."

Michael tried to think fast on whether or not to tell Lindsay. He knew she'd get it out of him anyways, but he tried to postpone it as long as possible. "Yeah! Everything's good, Linds. Don't sweat it." A nervous laugh escaped him, and that showed the obviousness of his lie.

She stopped in her tracks, grabbing the sleeve of Michael's shirt. He stepped a few feet forward before he was finally tugged back. He found himself staring into the eyes of Lindsay, who was not exactly appreciating the lying. She could see through him like he was a transparency. "Listen, Michael, I won't push. I want you to know I care about you, and if there's something bothering you, I'm here to talk. But there's no need to lie about it."

He tried to choose whether to push his luck and lie again, or to just come clean. Before he was able to choose, a lie escaped through his teeth, "I'm not lying. It's fine, Lindsay. Honestly."

Lindsay narrowed her eyes, growing mildly annoyed. She sighed, "Obviously there is something bothering you. If you don't want to tell me, that's okay. But I don't want you walking around like there's ants in your pants all day."

"Lindsay. Seriously, it's all good. I don't know why you think something's up. I just...am a little stir-crazy I guess. I don't know why, I just am." Michael knew he was lying and he was going to piss Lindsay off, likely to the point of yelling, but he didn't know if he wanted to tell Lindsay that he thought his boss was cute.

Lindsay inhaled, and instead of shouting like Michael thought she would, she just kept her cool. The next words out of her mouth surprised him. "Does this have anything to do with the raging hard-on you have for Geoff?" The way she asked it sounded so casual, like she knew the whole time.

Michael swallowed, and it was loud and hard in his ears. He didn't think Lindsay knew. Shit. "I-uh," he fumbled for something to say, a way to excuse it, laugh it off. But he realized that he couldn't laugh this off, because he couldn't lie once she'd figured it out. "I...yeah. It..kinda does." 

She gave him a hard stare for a second longer, before she finally gave him a smile, the corner of her lips slanting upwards. "Well you could’ve just SAID that."

Michael went to defense, "I didn't think you knew! Plus, it's fucking weird to have the hots for your boss! I didn't want you to think I was some sort of weirdo for having a boner for Geoff." He whispered Geoff's name, despite the rest of it being in a raised voice. He didn't want someone overhearing.

Lindsay gave him a soft laugh, "Of course I knew! It's so obvious. And why would I think that's weird?"

"Because it's weird to have a crush on a guy who's like, ten years older than you? And is your boss? And gives you your paycheck for your ramen noodle dinners?" Michael felt a blush creeping up his cheeks as butterflies scrambled in his stomach. He was thinking about this too much.

"Aw, Michael's into older men," she teased, punching his shoulder playfully, "but seriously, it's not that weird. Plus, I don't think Geoff really qualifies as a legitimate boss anyway. And dude, so what if he signs your paycheck? It's not like he's your sugar daddy or anything."

Michael's cheeks blushed harder at Lindsay's statements, "Don't talk so loud, Linds!" He found himself pleading with her to not, even though he really wanted to talk about just how awfully in love and smitten he was with Geoff.

"Why? Afraid someone else is going to find out you're totally hot for that mustache?"

"I don't want everyone in fucking Austin to know!" he said. "Please don't." He looked down at the ground, then back up at his friend, "You don't know how awkward I am about this!"

"Don't worry, ya dork. I'm not going to tell anyone. I wouldn't do that," Lindsay reassured him, “but I wouldn't be surprised if anyone else has already figured it out already."

Michael felt a panic, "Oh my god! What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Had he been that obvious?!

"Calm down!” Lindsay commanded, "Chill, dude, I was just kidding. But seriously, you two have been sharing some pretty intense staring. Like- love making with your eyeballs kind of stares."

"I was trying not to do that!" Michael sighed out exasperatedly. "Goddamnit."

"I'm sure you're fine. I mean, it's just like any other day when you all are practically fucking each other. Just the other day I walked into the office and Ray had Gavin pinned to the floor and was screaming, 'DO YOU FEEL IT YET, GAVIN!?' I'm not exactly sure what Ray was having Gavin feel, but I don't think I want to know." Lindsay shook her head at the memory, returning her focus to the task at hand, "Anyway, why don't you just ask him out on a date? He seems pretty into you as well. And then maybe you'll stop shaking like a mad man."

Michael let out a nervous laugh, the blush getting to his ears as he smiled that 400-watt smile he had on that morning. "Uh, actually...he asked me out last night. We're..going out after work today." It felt good to tell someone about it, though he worried Lindsay would turn into one of those girls who scream at any sign of love and romance.

"Oh shit!" She exclaimed suddenly, but then looking off to the side, "You know what that actually makes a lot of sense than you just being jittery at just the fact you like him." She thought back to when Michael said he couldn't stop staring at the clock. She shrugged before giving him a smile and nudging his shoulder. "Well, I'm extremely happy for you, Michael."

"I'm really really excited about it," he admits openly. "I...really have liked him for awhile. Apparently he's liked me a long time too." Michael couldn't stop himself smiling. "I don't know where he's going to take me for our date, but I'm sure it'll be something that's signature Geoff, don't you agree?"

Michael's radiant expression had rubbed off on Lindsay, and now she was grinning too. "I bet and I also bet that you're going to have a really good time."

"I'm gonna tell you all about it after, okay?" He says, suddenly feeling giddy. "I noticed you and Griffon hit it off really well today."

Lindsay sighed, "I'm not even going to lie to you. She's really fucking awesome. And you better tell me everything. I want extra details on the make-out session you have afterwards."

"Oh shush. I don't think we'll be making out," Michael said, though part of him hoped they would be. "But tell me more about your feelings on Griffon. We're having a heart-to-heart, so speak now or forever hold your peace."

"No but seriously, I need you to tell me what it feels like to make out with that mustache." Lindsay joked, followed by a short laugh. "And Griffon is- really cool. Like- she's just- indescribable. She's so light-hearted and sweet. We've actually been texting for the past half an hour.

"I'll tell you if it happens. I'd imagine it's pretty scratchy," Michael says, a chuckle escaping him. "I'm glad you two got along. Geoff was telling me he thought you two were making googly eyes at each other."

"Whatever." Lindsay snorted, not exactly sure how to respond, "So do you feel better getting all that off of your squishy chest?"

Michael laughed nervously at the word squishy, thinking of Geoff's comments about his cheeks. "Y-yeah. A lot actually. It feels good knowing that someone else knows I have a stupid crush on my stupid boss."

"Well, I'm glad I could help," Lindsay smiled at him. "So, do you think you can get through the rest of the day without being a little shit?"

".....Maaaaybe," he said, a grin crawling onto his face. Lindsay beamed back at him, and he said, "Let's go back inside. I think there's like, a half hour til the end of work.” Lindsay agreed, and they both sauntered back to her office before Michael thanked her and gave her a goodbye.


	4. Alone With A Set of Handcuffs, A Chair, and His Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael's chair goes missing. 
> 
> So does his patience.

He made it back to the Achievement Hunter office, pausing for just a second outside the door to recollect his thoughts before stepping inside. Michael went to sit at his desk, only to find his chair currently gone from his desk. "Hey! What's the deal with my chair being missing?"

Ray shrugged, "Geoff said he wanted to do something with it." 

Michael hurried back out of the office, and turned. After parading through the entire office building, he couldn't find his chair anywhere. Michael went to the parking lot, and found his chair handcuffed, (handcuffs courtesy to Social Disorder), to the handle of his car, with Geoff sitting comfortably in the chair waiting for him, a bottle of beer in one hand and his phone in the other, scrolling through something.

"Geoff, what the fuck?"

"Oh, hey Michael." Geoff greeted him casually, as if he wasn't sitting on Michael's chair that was currently attached to his car. He proceeded to take a swig of his beer, showing no emotion.

".....Hey, Geoff. Seems you've got your ass placed in my chair," Michael said coolly. He didn't want to burst out in rage at the guy who would be taking him on a date soon.

Geoff looked down at the chair, as if he wasn't aware he was sitting on it. "Oh would you look at that, I do." The way he said it made it seem that he wasn't planning on getting up anytime soon.

“Yeah. I noticed it's also handcuffed to my car. Any idea how that happened, pops?" Michael asked, seething internally.

Geoff glanced down at the way the chair was connected to the car, "Huh, that's strange. Usually your car doesn't have a chair handcuffed to it." The tattooed man was extremely pleased with himself, but continued to act clueless, sipping on his beer and looking up at Michael.

"Yes. It doesn't." Michael pinched the bridge of his nose. "You wouldn't happen to have the key to those handcuffs, would you?"

Geoff puckered his lips and paused a minute as if he needed sometime to think about it. "I don't know."

"Goddamnit, Geoff," he said quietly. "Just please let me have the keys."

"Yeah, I don't think so."

Michael sighed out a breath, trying so fucking hard to not yell at Geoff. "Geoff, I..please don't do this with me. Just let me have my chair back, we can put it back inside, and then we can go on our date, and then that'll be the end of that."

"Aw Michael." Geoff had the slightest grin on his face as he spoke, "Where's the fun in that?"

"The f-fun in that," Michael said, voice faltering in containing his anger," is th-that I don't get m-mad and fucking explode at you, and then turn into a pissed off s-stupid kid."

The elder planted his feet on the ground and began to swivel back and forth in the chair. He took another swig of his beer, the pleased smile starting to grow on his face as he watched Michael's vexation nearly burst at the seams. "I think I like it here. You know what? We should move your desk out here and we can call this your new office. Think about it, all of this open space, you've got the sunshine, no sweaty Jack sitting next to you. It'd be great."

G-geoff. Seriously. Don't f-fucking play with fate." Michael was practically in tears trying not to burst.

Geoff bit his lip. "You want the key, Michael?" 

"Yes, please." He found himself pleading now, just hoping and praying to whatever deity that Geoff would just give them the key and they could move on.

There wasn't the slightest of hesitations in his voice, "It's in my pocket. Come and get it."

Michael closed his eyes for a moment, both infuriated and confused. "Geoff, j-just h-hand it to m-me."

"Nope. If you want it, you have to get it yourself." Geoff was staring at him with a mischievous grin and a troublesome glint in his eyes.

"D-don't do this," Michael said. A blush crept up his face at him thinking of doing exactly what Geoff wanted him to do.

His grin grew by the second, "I'm not saying you have to, but, if you want your chair back..."

Michael sighed out a breath and closed his eyes again. "F-fine." He took one, two, three steps towards Geoff and was suddenly next to him. "Which pocket?"

"Well, we don't want to ruin the mystery, do we?" Geoff was holding back his laughter with the biggest shit-eating grin Michael had ever seen. The man was having a field day. 

Michael lolled his head back for a moment, staring into the sky with a moment of anger coming over him. "Damn you." He sighed out a breath and carefully reached towards Geoff's left pocket. His fingers fished around only to find a bit of pocket lint, a nickel, and a bottle cap. "I guess it's the right one?"

Geoff sat back, pleased with his work. "I don't know, maybe you should check." Little did Michael know, it wasn't in that one either. He felt the key underneath him, in his back right pocket.  
Michael reached for Geoff's right pocket to find the key wasn't there. He actually snapped for a minute, letting out a string of curses and a groan. 

Then, he sighed out, "I guess they could be in the fucking back pockets. Aren't they?" The smile on Geoff's face, that shit-eating grin told him it was. He reached for Geoff's left back pocket, only to find more pocket lint. "I fucking hate you."

Geoff had taken it upon him to even wiggle his hips a little as Michael's hands were knuckle deep in his pockets. "Do you hate me Michael?" He asked rhetorically, smiling so hard it hurt.

"I absolutely fucking hate you, Geoff." There was nothing but rage in his voice, though it was all said without evident anger somehow. He tried the back right pocket, and found the keys there. "Thank fucking christ!"

As he found the key, Geoff took it upon himself to push back on Michael's hand with his ass, putting the bottle of beer up to his lips and taking a swig. "Congratulations."

Michael forced himself not to blush as he pulled the keys from Geoff's pocket and unlocked the handcuffs. "There. Now get up. I'd like to take my chair back inside."  
Geoff continued to swivel. "Nah."

"I will fucking push the chair with you in it inside if you don't get up, Geoff," Michael said. He really didn't want to, but he was tired of this game now.

"Okay fine. I'll get up," He paused for a second, "if you kiss me."

Michael lets out a nervous laugh. "Very funny, Geoff. That's f-funny."

"Alright, fine. I've had my fun. You want your chair back?" Geoff stood up, and began to walk away from it, but then he stopped, pointing at the handcuffs that Michael still held in his hand, "Put those in your pocket, we might need them for later." And with a devious wink, he began to waltz right back to the office, leaving Michael alone with a set of handcuffs, a chair, and his thoughts.

Michael stared at the cuffs in his hands, wondering if Geoff was joking or serious. He didn't want to overthink things, but he also didn't want to underthink them. His brain was running a million miles an hour, so he just took a deep breath. Michael filed what Geoff said in the back of his mind, and then grabbed the back of his chair. He pushed it back into the office, only to find everyone staring at him when he came in, handcuffs in one hand and chair in front of him. "What?"

Geoff was trying to keep it together as long as he could, sinking down into his own chair before his attempts failed, and he was laughing hysterically.

Jack was the first one to say what everyone was thinking, "What the hell happened with you two?"

Michael sighed out. "Geoff handcuffed my chair to my car, and then made me find the keys to get my chair back." He excluded the details, hoping to avoid interrogation about where exactly the keys were. Everyone was laughing enough that hopefully they'd forget to ask.

Ryan was the one to ask. He turned to Geoff as his laughter died down, "Where DID you put the key?"

Geoff continued smirking, "Yeah, Michael, where DID I put the key?"

Michael swore internally. Did he lie and face the wrath of Geoff teasing him later or getting hurt, or did he face the music of telling them he had to touch Geoff's ass twice to get to the key? He chose the latter, bracing himself. "It was in Geoff's back right pocket."

The entire room broke out into howls, Geoff's laugh the loudest of them all. Gavin was of course the one to make the situation even worse for Michael, "Did you have to grope his ass to get to it?"

Michael audibly let out a groan. "I didn't fucking grope his ass! I just reached into the pocket and pulled out the keys, okay?!" Michael's anger had made the situation better for the all of them, except for Michael of course.

"Did you film it?" Ray had asked somewhere in the middle of a laughing fit. 

"Nah," Geoff responded, "Although I wish I would have, you should've seen how red his cheeks got." Geoff teased, glancing at Michael.

"I fucking hate each and every one of you," Michael said, unsure if he was kidding or not. He sighed out, sitting down on the chair he had been pushing before and sighing.

"Aw, Michael, don't be that way." Geoff spoke, almost apologetically, but still with that devilish grin on his face.

"I will be that way, Geoff." Michael said indignantly, a pout on his face with his arms crossed over his chest.

Geoff slid in his chair over to where the younger sat. He dropped his voice to a whisper. "I would be sorry, but that pout is too adorable to be sorry for."

"Fuck off," Michael said, the anger he had suppressed finally coming back up in intervals.

"What? You're not actually mad at me, are you?"

"I might be. But why would it fucking matter to you?" Michael didn't know why he was snapping, but he just knew that the anger in him had to come out somehow or he'd end up somehow having a stroke or something like it.

The fun was all gone now. Geoff dropped the smile he'd been wearing for so long, and began to look concerned. He watched Michael carefully, debating on whether or not apologizing would make it worse, "Because I care about you, Michael."

"If you cared about me, you wouldn't have pushed me like this," Michael found himself saying.

"I didn't mean to push you, I was just trying to have a laugh. I'm sorry that I upset you."

"It was funny until you kept pushing me and pushing me and you knew I was getting angry but you just kept on doing it, Geoff." Michael ignored Geoff's apology, because he was upset.

Geoff looked around the room at his co-workers. "Do you want to talk about this elsewhere?"

Michael thought for a moment. Did he? He contemplated his choices. He could get angrier and give him the cold shoulder...but what would that change? What would that solve? "Yeah."

"Come on." Geoff spoke softly. He led Michael out of the office and down the hall to an empty conference room, shutting the door behind them. He faced Michael, "I'm sorry I took it too far. I didn't realize the damage I was doing at the time."

Michael once again ignored Geoff's apology, letting his temper get the best of him. "You hurt my fucking feelings. You made me feel like you don't care. You just...I think it's cute that we look at each other the way we do and that we tease each other and we act the way we do, but what you did was too much for me. I...didn't expect that before a date. It makes me wonder what you think is appropriate for after a date." He found himself rambling, and he blurted out the last bit, before putting a hand over his mouth and blushing furiously. "Oh..oh sh-shit I didn't mean to--"

Geoff stared at him for a minute. "It's okay, I'm an asshole. And God, I'm so sorry I made you feel like I don't care. Because I do. I pushed my boundaries- er- your boundaries- and I regret it." He took a step closer to Michael, "And as for that last part, I- I don't want to do anything you don't want to do."

"It was too much. I just wanted to get my chair back and finish my work, but when I got there it was gone and Ray said you took it. I..started getting angry when I saw it was handcuffed to my car, and even more angry when I saw you sitting there with it and you refusing to give me the keys. I just...got uncomfortable," Michael said softly. Then, completely irrelevant to the things he said before, he found himself saying, "I told Lindsay about how I feel about you. And about..how you asked me out."

Geoff's heart broke in his chest. He genuinely felt like a piece of shit. He rubbed his eyes with his hands, realizing how bad he'd fucked up. "I'm such an idiot. Michael, I'm so sorry."

Michael sighed out. "You...aren't an idiot, Geoff. You didn't know. I...shouldn't have lashed out the way I did." He wanted to comfort the older man somehow, but didn't know how.

But this wasn't about Geoff, it was about Michael. "No, God Michael, don't- don't feel sorry. I'm the one who fucked up. You had all the right to get upset."

"I really shouldn't have snapped at you, though. I was angry, but I shouldn't have taken it out on you." His voice was quiet, so quiet, barely above a whisper. The words were only meant for Geoff to hear, even if they were alone, because the words were upsetting to Michael. He felt awful that he had taken out his anger on someone he loved so much.

"Who else would you've taken your anger out on? I was the one who had to take the blow. I made the mistake."

"I could have yelled at a game, at Gavin, at Lindsay. Not at you." Michael didn't know why he felt so guilty about it, more than everyone else.

"No, no. It's okay. I'm glad you told me it hurt you. I won't push you again."

Michael closed his eyes, rubbing his face and sighing out. "I don't want you to feel like you have to walk on your tip-toes around me, Geoff."

"I don't have too. I know I can be straightforward with you. It's one thing that I really like about you. But- I don't want to- I don't want you to get upset because I'm being a humongous douchebag." Geoff pushed out, taking another step closer to Michael.

"You aren't. We..just haven't really talked about boundaries because we..haven't started dating yet." Michael said quietly. He watched Geoff get closer, and he let it happen.  
Geoff put a hand on Michael's cheek, looking into Michael's eyes. "Well, here's a better time than ever."

Michael looked at the floor, "How do you..want to go about that, then?" He was nervous, because he'd never really been able to set boundaries before. People just..did what they wanted and didn't care when it bothered him. This was the first time he'd really told someone when something bothered him as much as it did. That was another sign of Michael's trust in Geoff.

Geoff thought for a second, "I want you to tell me everything that upsets you. I want you to tell me things that piss you off, things you wouldn't want me to do. I also want you to tell me what you're not comfortable with. And if I do something that you don't like in the future, tell me, and I will stop."

"I...don't like to be forced to do things," Michael decided. "I like to make my..own decisions. I also like to be respected when I ask someone to stop doing something. If you can see I'm uncomfortable, it's probably...best to stop d-doing what you're doing." Michael didn't know why he was getting worked up. "I s-sometimes have trouble c-containing myself, as you know, b-but I don't want that to stand in the way either. I like to j-joke around-d, and generally t-tease everyone, b-but I don't l-like when jokes b-become annoying. T-thats why most of the things G-Gavin does result in us having a fist-fight...b-because he doesn't know how t-to r-respect the word n-n-no."

He watched as Michael started to build up his emotion's once more. When he finished, Geoff nodded, slowly at first, but faster as Michael's words sunk in. On an instinct, Geoff leaned in, wrapping his arms around Michael and embracing him.

Michael sighed out a breath, wanting to just stay in Geoff's arms forever. He felt safe and warm there. "I..don't know why its so hard for everyone to get."

Geoff propped his head up on Michael's, "It's just 'cause we're all douche bags. It's best not to try and take it to heart. Sometimes we don't realize the damage we do."

"But..you realize it. Sometimes Ryan's realized it. Jack's never done anything to me. They're c-capable of understanding it...they just...don’t." Michael just felt overwhelmed. He wanted to just drop the feelings he felt and just stay close to Geoff, hear his heartbeat and let himself be held, but he couldn't shake them.

"I did realize it," Geoff took a deep breath, closing his eyes, “and I'm really sorry I didn't stop."  
“It's...okay," Michael said. It was the second time Michael accepted that same apology from Geoff. "I just...don't...know how to tell them to stop and make them listen, because they j-just think I'm j-joking."

"How about next time it happens, I'll step in?" Geoff offered.

"I don't--I don't want them to think I can't...stand up for myself," he said quietly. Fears were coming from the younger faster than he realized and thought he would, but in the comfort of Geoff's arms, he found himself in a safe space.

Geoff tightened his grip around Michael. "I think they know damn well you can stand up for yourself. And if you really need to, tell them. Tell them it upsets you. Tell them it makes you uncomfortable. If they have at least a little bit of respect, they'll stop. And if they don't, I'll personally beat the piss out of them."

Michael felt like he was repeating himself, but said it anyways. "But what about Gavin? He never...stops."

"Have you ever pulled him off to the side and told him? Maybe away from people, where he doesn't think he needs to show off."

He sighed out. "I texted him, I told him when we just had lunch together--which we don't even really do anymore because he doesn't like talking about stuff like that." Michael was frustrated because he wanted answers, and he knew that Geoff did not know the answers. Not necessarily, at least.

Geoff let out a sigh as well, he didn't like when Michael was upset. "I can talk to him if you want. And if that doesn't work, I'd just suggest avoiding him. And if he continues to do what he does, just ignore him. Try not to give him the reaction he wants, even if it may be hard. Gavin's a douche, and he's going to want to do he wants to do, and I'm afraid there's nothing we can do to stop it."

"I've been trying but you know it's hard for me to contain myself--to...stop getting angry. And y-you know that if I don't get that anger out, it ends up turning me into something like this." Even under the grip of Geoff's arms, Michael attempted to use his arms to gesture to himself, to emphasize his point.

"I know, Michael. But you're doing so well. You barely lashed out at me today, you did so good. And if you need to calm down, you can just grab me and we can talk about it, okay? It's what I'm here for."

He was quiet for a minute, just savoring the feeling of being in Geoff's arms and feeling safe. Then, Michael spoke, his voice muffled as he buried his face into the older man's chest, "Lindsay told me that I needed to go to a doctor to talk about my anger and stuff." He paused for a moment, and it was evident then that it was something hard for him to say. "The doctors told me I had anger management problems." Another pause. "I...guess it makes sense. After they told me I got angry and Lindsay had to talk me through it.... She was the one who took me, y'know." Michael felt anticipation in his chest, wondering what Geoff would say to that.

Michael felt Geoff nod. "It's good you went to get help. What did they tell you? Did they sign you up for classes or something?"

"They told me that I had trouble maintaining my anger, and because I can't control it easily, I lash out at people. They had me figure out what my anger cues are...like, what triggers me to be angry--I told you those already--and what I can do to avoid them. The doctors also told me about different prevention techniques I can do if I do get angry and before I lash out...," he said. "They're working most of the time. But sometimes I can't really think about it. The anger comes as quick as sneezing sometimes." Michael sighed out. "They didn't put me in classes or something, but as I said, they gave me techniques."

"Well, that's good. And you need to know that it's okay to get angry sometimes. There's nothing wrong with it." 

Michael didn't know what to say. 'Thank you' sounded awkward, but nothing else seemed to fit the situation. So he just nodded against Geoff's chest and stayed there, close, and listening to the older man's heartbeat. He felt so happy to be there, and that Geoff was listening to him, really listening, not like how some of the guys seemed to not care at all. 

And Geoff was happy to do so. To hold him and to give him a sense of protection. A comfortable silence fell over them and time ticked away as they stood there, lost in the embrace.

The silence between them was broken by one of their coworkers, indeterminable through the door, yelling, "Thank god work is over!"

Another voice said, "I thought I'd be stuck in that chair for the rest of my life!" A roar of laughter followed.

A third voice said, "Anyone seen Geoff and Michael?" A mumble, presumably of negative responses, replied.

A voice, obviously female, said, "I'll look for them. Don't worry."


	5. In Your Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a long day of work, Geoff and Michael finally get to go on their date.

Moments later, Lindsay bursts through the door of the meeting room, "Geoff, Michael! Are you two in here--oh. Uh...did I...walk in on something?"

Geoff immediately let go of Michael as he slipped through his arms, both of them detaching from each other. "No- Nah. You're good." Geoff reassured her, glancing at Michael for a split second. "What do you need?" He asked Lindsay, taking a step towards her.

Michael caught Geoff's eyes for that glance, and felt a smile on his face, though he bit the inside of his cheek to keep it hidden. Lindsay shrugged, "Everyone was just wondering where you guys were. Ryan said that you both left for some reason, and you guys didn't come back. I guess I should tell you work's over now."

Geoff started to absentmindedly crack his knuckles, a habit he'd picked up not too long ago. "Oh, alright. Well, thank you." He looked back at Michael with the faintest of smiles, "We should probably get goin' then, huh?"

Lindsay wiggles her eyebrows at the two, "Have fun, you two. Michael, make sure you tell me all the gross and disgusting details."

Michael smiled, "Will do. Let's go, pops."

Geoff rolled his eyes at Lindsay as she walked off, grabbing the door and holding it open for Michael. "You need to grab anything from the office?"

"I should probably get my keys and phone, but I'll leave my bag and shit here." Michael walked into the now deserted office, grabbed the aforementioned things, and greeted Geoff once again outside the office. "Yeah. I'm good. I'm assuming you'll take me back up here so I can get my shit and my car, right?"

"Probably. That is of course if you're not planning on spending the night." Geoff joked, following the statement with a teasing eyebrow wag.

"We'll let the night decide that, shall we?" Michael returned, following Geoff to his car. He hopped in the passenger seat, buckling his seatbelt and leaning back, "Where are we headed?"

"Well it won't be a surprise if I tell you, right?" Geoff spoke as he buckled his seat belt on before plugging the key into the ignition and pulling out of the parking space.

"Fine, fine, you have to be a romantic, don't you?" Michael was grinning though. He didn't think Geoff would put in the thought to surprise him.

"I wouldn't say I'm a romantic." Geoff commented, looking at all of the cars that began to line the streets. Rush hour traffic, he thought. This was an everyday occurrence, but it might take them a bit longer to arrive at their destination.

"It's usually romantic to keep dates a surprise, isn't it? That's what Lindsay says, anyways," Michael replies, a shrug following his statement.

"Is it?" Geoff asked, "I don't know. I don't think I'm the person to ask. Do you feel romanticized right now?"

Michael laughed, and the laugh came easy to him. "No? That sounds like I should feel offended or some shit. I think its cute that you thought to surprise me, though." He paused. "Unless you don't know where we're going, and it's gonna be a surprise to you too," he said, his voice lilting to indicate a joke.

Geoff gave a soft laugh, using the slow traffic to his advantage to be able to look over at Michael. "Maybe I should have bought you flowers or something. That's romantic, right?"

Michael rolled his eyes, despite the pink on his cheeks, "Nah, I don't need flowers. It's nice enough just to spend time with you."

Geoff looked forward, pausing for a moment. "That's cheesy as dicks, dude."

"Well you kinda brought it upon yourself," Michael said quietly, a chuckle accompanying it. He looked out the window, "How much longer do you think?"

Geoff made a face. "Fuck if I know. Traffic sucks."

"Traffic does suck, but you do know where we're going, so you would know how long it takes normally, despite traffic, yeah?"

"From the office, without traffic? It's going to take a little bit, I know that. It's pretty far away."

"Goddamn, where on earth would you be going?!" Michael said, exasperated. He wasn't upset, only teasing, but he still was curious where on earth Geoff was taking him.

"To the abandoned building where I go to murder all of my dates that ask too many questions." Geoff jokingly mumbled in response as he watched the road carefully.

"Geoff, please," Michael said, laughing. "I don't think you could murder me, even if you tried."

"Yeah." Geoff agreed. "I mean, who else's cheeks would I pinch if you're dead?"

"Exaaactly," Michael agreed. A silence fell between them, though not uncomfortable. Michael looked out his window, and Geoff continued driving.

It stumbled on for quite a while, but soon the traffic died down. Mostly because they seemed to be driving farther away from downtown Austin. It felt less cramped, one of the few things Geoff liked about the area. As the two sat quietly, the sudden realization that they were finally alone had struck him. He carefully moved his right hand from the steering wheel, slowly moving it closer to Michael's. Tattooed fingers brushed against Michael's, and he accepted, opening his hands entirely before they laced their them together. Michael looked at their interlaced fingers, and smiled. Geoff's hand felt big and warm against his own, but it felt like it belonged there. He looked up, catching Geoff's eyes in a glance before Geoff looked back to the road. "Are we almost there?"

"Be patient," was all Geoff said, his other hand resting lazily on the steering wheel. Michael sighed dramatically, throwing his head back to add to his stupid act. When Geoff chuckled, Michael chuckled too.

They drove on for a short while, but soon they arrived. Geoff pulled into a parking spot neatly, and took the keys out of the ignition. "This," He started, gesturing toward the small building, "is the most underrated diner in the whole world." It looked old, but still held up well regardless. "They have the best home fries in the world. And the beer is handcrafted here. I found this place when I got really really drunk one night, I had woken up in a motel, we passed it not to long ago, and this place practically cleared my hangover. I wish I could go more often, but it's so far away- ugh. Anyway." As he stopped himself from rambling on, he looked at Michael.  
Michael was beaming, his face bright and eyes twinkling.

Upon seeing Geoff's confused face, Michael explained, "I'm really touched you brought me somewhere that had memories for you, even if they're just...y’know, drunk memories. But, y’know...you like it here so..." He stopped himself from over explaining and allowed Geoff to lead him inside, holding onto the older man's and with a smile still on his face.

As they approached the door, Geoff took a step forward, opening it up for him. The inside of the diner was had an old-timey western theme to it, something Geoff had found comforting. One of the waitress had immediately perked up at the sight of a customer. She gave the two a wide smile before speaking with a thick southern accent, "Go on and take any seat you want, I'll be right there to get your drinks." Geoff thanked her, leading the two of them at a booth before they both sat down.

Michael sat across from Geoff once again, smiling wide as he had before, and just took in the atmosphere. The place was cute, and it seemed so...Geoff, in a way. He enjoyed sitting and looking around, and the waitress came by, accent still as prominent as it was before. "What'll 'ya have to drink, sweetheart?" she asked, looking at Michael as she placed menus on the table for the two of them.

"Uh, I'll just have some water," Michael tells the woman. He figured if he got water, he wouldn't have anything to mess with his palette or someshit. 

The waitress then turned to Geoff, "How about you, doll?"

"And for me, I'll have some of your fine handcrafted beer, please." Geoff grinned, fiddling with the end of his mustache. She nodded before strutting away. They picked up the menus in front of him, before skimming over their options. Of course, he already knew what he wanted, but he used the menu as a way to look busy as he glanced at Michael from over the top of it. "Everything here is good, by the way. I've had time to try everything, and never once had anything to complain about."

"Alright," Michael said, looking further at the menu. He realized there were a lot of options. "Uhhh, what would you recommend, Geoff?"

"Hm, good question. They have awesome BBQ, oh and the hamburgers are pretty good... But everything's pretty good, so really you'd be good holding up a menu, throwing a dart, and eating whatever it landed on." He smiled as he watched Michael read carefully over his options.

Michael huffed, "There're a looot of options." He contemplated for a moment, before settling on the house-recipe burger. He also decided to take it as it came, no changes or anything. Michael nodded to himself and set down his menu just as the waitress came back, setting Geoff's beer and Michael's water down carefully on the table.

"You two ready to order?" she asked. 

Geoff gestured to Michael, as if asking him if he was ready, and if so, to go ahead and order first, “Oh, okay. I'll have the house burger."

"You want everything on that?" the waitress asked.

"Yes, thank you!" Michael smiled politely.

The waitress turned to Geoff, "How 'bout you?"

"Could I get a BLT please? Oh, and a side of home fries as well." 

"Sure thing, honey. I'll put that in right now." She spoke before she walked back to the kitchen.  
Geoff met Michael's gaze, and smiled sweetly. Geoff wondered how well he was doing, it's been awhile since he'd been on a date. There was silence between them. Michael didn't really know what to say. "Thanks for taking me out, Geoff."

"Thanks for agreeing to come." He returned without hesitation.

Michael smiled. Geoff was doing his best to treat Michael, and that made him feel really happy. He didn't really know what else to say other than thank you, and since that was already expressed, he was out of ideas. He hoped Geoff had something to say.

They soon fell into a discussion about the new movies coming out which led to an endless conversation about the upcoming video game releases. Not too long later, the waitress returned, smile as bright as ever, with two plates of food and a refill for their drinks. "Enjoy your meal!" She had said before the two men thanked her, and she wandered off. Geoff took a bit off his sandwich, a pleased grin on his face because it's never fails to be so good.

Michael took a bite of his burger, and chewed it thoughtfully. A moment later his eyes were wide, "Holy fuck Geoff! This is literally the best burger I've had. Maybe ever."

Geoff's smile grew, "I'm glad you like it. It's such a shame how underrated this place is."

"I agree dude! I'm gonna have to take Lindsay here sometime, she'd love it." He was quiet for a second, and then said, "Of course, I'd also like to come back here again with you."

Geoff chuckled, "Maybe when Lindsay and Griffon decide to finally go on a date, we can point them here."

"That sounds perfect," Michael said. A silence fell between them, but not uncomfortable. They just took the chance to look at each other and just take in the moment and the fact that they were on a date. Michael just sighed out, "Wow..." Under Geoff's questioning gaze, Michael clarified, "I'm just...really seriously amazed you asked me out. I think I said it before, but yeah. I'm really...excited you asked me."

"I'm not exactly sure why you're excited. I'm just old Geoff. Nothin' too special here."

"I'm excited because I like you," Michael said truthfully. "And I never thought you'd even know I liked you--that I'd tell you, let alone that you'd actually like me enough to ask me out." He smiled. "Plus, there's a lot special about you Geoff. I can't think of anyone else like you."

"Well, Michael. I like you too. And you know what, the special is all in the 'stache." He took a second to laugh softly at himself. "But seriously, you shouldn't be amazed. You're just incredibly likable."

Michael smiled, a blush returning to his cheeks, "You're being waaay too nice to me, Geoff." He paused for a minute. "Where's the guy who was threatening me and pinching my cheeks earlier?"

As expected, Geoff lent over the table to carefully take Michael's cheek between his fingers before giving it a squeeze, "I never left."

Michael laughed a little as Geoff squeezed his cheeks again, "There he is! I thought I'd never see him again."

Geoff let go, reaching down to pick up his drink once again, "Nah, you're going to have to deal with me forever, whether you like it or not."

Michael faked a dramatic faint, "Oh damn, whatever shall I do? To have to deal with this idiot my whole life? Noooooo!"

The elder rolled his eyes at that. "Ah, shut up. You know you love it."

"Yeah," he agreed. "I do." He went back to eating, savoring the moment and the food, and just beaming at Geoff every once in awhile. This was still so surreal to him.

As Geoff finished up his sandwich, he held a lazy smile on his face and the two filled the space with mindless chatter. The waitress returned a few minutes after they had started to slow down on the food before she politely placed the check on the table. Geoff grabbed it without a second thought, going through the cash in his wallet and slipping the appropriate amount into the sleeve before setting it back on the table and placing the tip halfway under an empty cup. Michael opened his mouth to object to Geoff paying, but closed it when he saw the look in Geoff's eyes that screamed 'This is a date, and I'm going to treat you.' He just looked down at his empty plate and said, politely, "Thank you for paying and taking me out, Geoff."

He nodded, "No problem kiddo. Thanks for agreeing to come. Now," He pointed toward the door, "shall we?"

Michael nodded, following Geoff out the door and back into his car. "Where are we heading now?"

"I haven't actually planned anything up to this point," Geoff admitted, as they approached the car, "we could go back to my place and I could kick your ass at Peggle."

"Sounds like a date," Michael said, smiling at him and getting into the car. After buckling his seatbelt, he caught eyes with Geoff again. And Geoff had that twinkle in his eye.

After Geoff had succeeded on turning the engine on and properly pulling them out of the diner's parking lot, he repeated his actions from last time's drive, reaching over the center console for Michael's hand.

Michael looked down at their hands, flushing a bit. Geoff's hand felt a little bigger than his, but felt so comforting. He looked at the older man's fingers compared to his own. Geoff's were tattooed, more rough, and slightly more calloused. Of course, in his attention to detail, Michael failed to hear Geoff singing along to the radio, and a pang of sadness went through him, because that usually made him laugh. He reminded himself to pay better attention as the commercial break on the radio ended and a new song began. Geoff, of course, went right back to singing along.

"Come on, Michael!" Geoff took a break from singing to encourage him as he gave Michael's hand a squeeze, "Sing with me!" He went right back to fumbling along horribly to the lyrics, dancing to the beat as much as he could with the responsibility of being driver.

Michael snorted at Geoff acting like a child, but joined him anyway. The two were yelling at the top of their lungs, voices cracking (well, Geoff's voice cracking) and laughter intermittent through their song. Michael would occasionally squeeze Geoff's hand as they sang, hoping and always smiling when he got a squeeze back from Geoff.

This continued on before the station went back to playing commercials. The rest of the car ride was mostly comfortable silence, apart from Geoff's humming.

When they finally pulled up at Geoff's house, Michael just followed quietly behind Geoff, wanting to be polite and not embarrass himself. He said, "Your place is nice." Though it wasn't exactly clean, the way it was put together, messes and all, made it distinctly Geoff's space.

"Thanks! Go ahead and make yourself at home. Do you want something to drink?" Geoff offered, walking over to the television to begin setting up the game.

"You got Red Bull?" Michael asked, though he knew it was likely Geoff did. He flopped onto Geoff's couch, pulling off his shoes and stretching back, a groan escaping him involuntarily.

"Hell yeah." He answered, switching on the Xbox and tossing Michael a controller. After the title screen loaded up, he went to the fridge, riffling around and pulling out two cans. When he got close enough to know the chances of injury were small, he tossed one to Michael before settling on the couch next to him.

Michael caught it, popping the tab and taking a few drinks before setting it on the coffee table. He picked up the controller, "Where are we starting on this journey of ass-kicking?"  
"Peggle 2, duel mode, bitch. You're going down." Geoff joked, going through the screens and setting up the match.

Michael laughed, "I'd like to say 'In your dreams,' but I know you're probably right about that. The only thing I can beat you in with Peggle is with Kinect controls."

Geoff rolled his eyes at the memory of the VS, "Don't even get me started on that bullshit. It was rigged I tell you, rigged!"

"The only person rigging it was Ryan, but that's just ‘cause he kept talking right after you said 'take shot' to fuck with you," Michael said, catching the older man's eyes.

"He sucks." Geoff grumbled as the round started, and he set up his first shot.

"Awww, don't take it too hard, old man," Michael teased, watching Geoff take his shot and trying to take note of the older man's careful precision.

"Should I start calling you youngster?" Geoff inquired at the repeated nickname before firing the ball at the pegs, somewhat pleased at his results.

"Nah," Michael said. "But kiddo works." It was Michael's turn now, and he took his time, trying to make the best possible shot for the situation he had before him.

"Sure thing, kiddo." Geoff mocked slightly, resting his controller on his knee. 

Michael laughed, and almost hit the triggers while his body shook from the laughter. He jabbed the A button, watching the ball bounce and land back in the bucket, so he got a free ball. "Free ball, gramps!"

"You just got lucky, baby." Geoff had retorted, not realizing what he just said sounded a bit different from his joking intentions until after the words had already left his lips, "Er-"

Michael stopped, looking at him for a minute. The two held the palpable silence between them, wondering how each other would react. Michael's face drew into a smile, "Did you just call me baby?"

Geoff laughed at himself, running a hand through his hair, "I think I just did. It wasn't- I didn't really- uh."

"Don't, Geoff." Michael said. "I liked it." He was being honest. He thought it was cute, especially coming from Geoff.

Geoff grew warm and it had shown by the smile he gave Michael. His gaze lingered on Michael's for a minute, "Yeah?"

Michael nodded his affirmation as he said, "Yeah." The smile on Geoff's face made one appear on his own, and he felt so warm seeing Geoff like this.

Geoff scanned Michael's bright features, and he hadn't realized how close they actually were on the couch until now. He was near enough that he could see the unique pattern of his eyes and most importantly, the faint freckles that dotted his cheeks.

Michael watched Geoff, looking at the way he was looking at him. Michael took in Geoff's blue eyes, the wrinkles around his them that showed from laughing so much, and the hints of stubble on his cheeks. Michael couldn't stop himself from taking a quick glance at Geoff's lips before looking back up into his eyes. He noted their closeness, too.

Geoff wondered if the time was right. It felt right. He leaned in, slow enough that he could scan the younger face for any sign of uneasiness and give Michael the chance to pull away if he wanted to.

Michael saw what was happening. Holy shit, it was happening. It was happening! Unable to wait any more after so long of hoping for just this thing to happen, Michael leaned the rest of the way, closing the space and pushing his lips to Geoff's.

Geoff’s eyes fluttered shut, glad that his instincts were correct. He moved his hand around him, getting it lost in Michael's curls as he continued to sync up to his movement of the younger's lips.

Michael smiled against Geoff's mouth and found himself pulling his arms around the older man's neck; he remembered in the middle of this action that this was something the girls he used to date did while he had his hands on her waist. Michael felt Geoff's mustache tickling against his face and nose, and felt a sense of delight at the feeling, just because it was something silly, and something he would probably tease Geoff about later.

Geoff didn't notice he let go of his controller in order to put his other hand on Michael's waist before he heard it fall onto the floor. He continued to ignore it, too focused on Michael. His thoughts were racing of Michael, the way his lips felt, his taste, his arms around his neck. Geoff shifted himself on the couch to get closer, his body pushing towards the other man.

Michael pulled himself away from Geoff as he got closer, eyes downcast and cheeks flushed. A smile was on his face, and his eyes were a bit hazy from this weird dream-turned-reality moment. Michael opened his mouth, then closed it. He opened it again. "Wow," was all he could say. Geoff was just looking at him, waiting for him to continue. "That was...so much more than I ever expected."

Geoff rested his forehead against Michael's as he went to catch his breath. "I'm- I'm glad. That was- you're incredible."

"No, you're incredible," he said, whispering, though he didn't know why he was. Seeing that sparkle in Geoff's eyes made him fall that much harder, and hearing him as breathless as he was caused the blush on his cheeks to deepen.

The tattooed hand that buried in Michael's hair moved to cup the side of Michael's face. Geoff's gaze was shifting from the younger's blush, to his deep red lips, swollen from the kiss, and back up to his eyes. "You're so beautiful, baby." He murmured between breaths, the volume of his voice matching his.

Michael just savored the feeling of Geoff's fingers against his cheek, his eyes locked to his own, and the half smile that was pulling at Geoff's face. He didn't know what else to say but 'thank you,' and as he said it, his free hand found Geoff's and laced their fingers together. With a gentle squeeze and a sudden burst of confidence, Michael pressed a quick kiss to Geoff's lips once again before pulling away just as fast. Geoff nodded, giving him an encouraging smile. He leaned in, connecting their lips for a second time. Michael's kiss was addicting, soft lips yet firm intentions, he wondered how the hell he'd gone so long without it. Geoff's heart raced in his chest as the grip he held on Michael's waist tightened.

Michael found himself just as in love with Geoff's kisses as Geoff was with his own. Geoff tasted like the Red Bull they'd been drinking, alcohol, and something that burned his throat with a sweet-and-spicy burn on the way down. He'd wondered what Geoff's mouth had tasted like, and now that he'd tasted it, he never wanted to stop. Geoff pulled them closer, shifting once again so that their chests were pressed together. As Geoff found himself needed oxygen, he broke the kiss, again staring at Michael through half-lidded eyes. "Fuck, Michael."

"I could say the same to you," he said, breathless. His words were slow and he was on some sort of high that he never wanted to get off of.

Geoff desperately wanted to say I loved you, he could feel it. But he didn't, he knew that under all the thick skin that Michael was sensitive, that he'd be intimidated by it. Not wanting to pressure Michael into feeling like he needed to say something he didn't mean, he went for an alternative route. "Hey, Michael?" He spoke softly after their breathing had begin to subdue.

"Hmmm?" Michael said, still under the haze of the kiss.

From the cup shape they held on his cheek, Geoff's fingers moved carefully, grabbing Michael's cheek and squeezing quickly, "Pinch."

Michael quickly sobered from his haze, his eyes glinting with a teasing anger, "Damnit, Geoff." Apparently, Geoff always knew how to spoil a romantic moment.

Geoff, ultimately pleased with himself, giggled, "Okay, okay. I'm sorry."

Michael shook his head, "Apology not accepted, pops. You can do better than that."

"Is that how we're playing it, kiddo? Alright, fine." Geoff gave Michael another a brief kiss on the lips, "How about now?"

Michael cocked his head to the side in mock thought, "Hmmmmm. That was better. I think that you need to really mean it, though." Michael had no idea where this flirtatiousness was coming from, but he didn't care.

Geoff quirked an eyebrow at the mischievous behavior, "Oh? How's this?" He leaned in again, closing the space between there lips before pushing into the kiss. He put one of his hands on Michael's chest and slowly moved it down his torso, breaking the kiss as he continued. "Hm?"

"Mmmm, that'll do. For now," Michael said, his voice quiet and his eyes masked with something that was unreadable. The game sat forgotten on the screen, still stuck on Geoff's turn.

Geoff smiled at him, staring into his eyes for a minute. "Hey Michael?" He asked a second time, going back to intertwine their fingers together.

"Hmmmm?" Michael said again, looking back at the older man intently.

"So, uh- boyfriends?" He offered, trying to establish where they stood.

Michael looked at him, feigning confusion just to psych him out. "Of-fucking-course, boyfriends, Geoff! What did you think, after we sucked faces for twenty minutes and you took me on a date, I'd just leave you high and dry?"

Geoff but his lip and laughed, relieved by the answer. "Fair enough."

Michael paused for a moment, thinking. "A-are we gonna tell everyone at work?"

We don't have to." Geoff turned, resting his head on Michael's shoulder.

"I wanted to know if you wanted to," he said quietly.

"Oh. I don't mind."

"I....want to tell them, but I don't know what they'll say." Michael felt that familiar fear creeping in, just like the ones he had about telling Geoff that he liked him, telling Lindsay that he liked Geoff.

"Jesus, you think they're going to judge us? Half the office probably thinks we're gay anyway and the other don't have any room to talk. Have you seen the way Ray and Ryan have been looking at each other the past few weeks?"

Michael shrugged and sighed, "Team Always Funny isn't always seen as gay as The R and R Connection is. I just...don't want people to look at us funny."

"I think we work with a group of very accepting people. I don't really think they're going to give two shits. And if they do, I'll rough 'em up."

"You mean it, Geoff?" Michael asked, sounding childish. "You'd really beat them up so they'd accept us? If they didn't, at least...." He looked down at their hands intertwined, and gave Geoff's a little squeeze.

"Yeah kiddo. I'd beat 'em all up." He smiled at Michael, "But I don't think I'd have to."

“Really?” Michael asked. “You’d do that for little ol’ me?” A smile played at his lips, but he knew that Geoff would grin at it anyways.

He laughed lightly, “For you? I’d do anything.”

Michael’s smile widened and a flush hit his cheeks. How many times was he going to blush that evening? “Thank you.”

“Well, almost everything. I don’t think I’ll ever stop pinching your cheeks, especially when you get all blushy. It’s cute.” Geoff punctuated the line by reaching up and giving Michael’s warm cheeks another squeeze. 

Michael looked down, a little embarrassed but not in a bad way. “I don’t think I want you to stop now.”

“Good, because I don’t plan on it.” Geoff smiled lazily, going back to scanning Michael’s features.

Michael watched Geoff looking at him, and cocked his head to the side curiously. He wondered what Geoff was thinking. 

“You’re pretty cute, you know that?” Geoff asked, smiling lazily at him. 

“I could say the same about you,” Michael responded.

“I thought I was too old to be cute.” He mocked, fiddling with his mustache. 

“You’re not too old, but if it makes you feel better, I can call you handsome.”

Geoff grinned, shaking his head, “Whatever you feel like.”

“What if I call you cute and handsome, but..like, interchangeably?” Michael asked.

“Candsome.” Geoff spoke automatically, combining the two words together. 

Michael laughed aloud. “Ahh, yeah,” he said sarcastically, “Geoff Ramsey, my candsome boyfriend.”

“Oh that sounds so dumb. I like it.”

“It sounds just as dumb as many of the other things that have come out of my mouth,” Michael said.

“I like the dumb things that come out of your mouth.” Geoff paused.

Michael smiled at Geoff, catching his eyes one more time before saying, “Let’s get back to Peggle. I wanna kick your ass.”

“In your dreams, baby!”

**Author's Note:**

> Riley: im touched. i wish you could see the tears on my small baby face.  
> Riley: baby face meaning my face  
> Riley: obvs  
> Gwen: *pinch*  
> Riley: goddamnit.  
> Gwen: Roll credits.


End file.
